The present invention relates to a snare drum, more particularly to the snare bed and even more particularly to a snare bed strainer for moving the snare bed into contact with and out of contact with the drum head of a snare drum.
The snare bed of a snare drum comprises a number of sound wires, which may be in the form of coiled springs, that contact the bottom drum head of a snare drum and are vibrated by the vibration of the drum head for generating additional noise. The snare bed must be installed at and is occasionally removed away from contact with the drum head.
The snare bed comprises a plurality of side-by-side sound wires which extend between metal pieces. A respective support band is attached to each of the metal pieces. The support bands are fastened to the shell of the drum, typically at opposite sides of the drum. The support bands must be pulled apart so that the wires of the snare bed will be held under tension against the drum head surface. To this end, there is typically provided a stationary band press at one side of the drum shell and a movable or tensionable band press on the other side of the drum shell. One snare bed band is held in the stationary press. The other snare bed band is pulled up in the movable press which draws the sound wires tight against the drum head. One typical movable band press is made to be slidable up and down along the drum shell by means of a link mechanism. Typically, the bands at the end of the snare bed pass through guide holes in the rim of the drum shell and the guide holes position the snare bed.
When the movable band press is operated to tension the snare bed, the metal pieces at the ends of the wires of the snare bed slide along the drum head surface, and possibly may damage that surface. Furthermore, to loosen the snare bed and separate it from the drum head, the movable band press is operated to relieve the pulling on the bands and the snare bed becomes slack and separates from the drum head. The snare bed remains in a loosened, untensioned state after it has been separated from the drum head. In this position, the wires of the snare bed may be vibrated by the noise generated by playing of the drum or by vibrations from another musical instrument, whereby the snare bed wires may continue to produce noise. Furthermore, noise is occasionally generated during tensioning of the snare bed by movement of the movable band press. This noise can produce undesirable effects during the playing of music and particularly when fine quality recordings are made.